Having agreed to take the lead on the environmental review of the 550-acre Monterey Downs project, the city of Seaside is in line to receive more than $100,000 from the developer to pay for the work.

The Seaside City Council on Thursday stands to approve a reimbursement agreement with Monterey Downs LLC, the development group that wants to build 1,300 homes, stores, a horse park and other features on land within both Seaside's and Monterey County's jurisdictions.

The council earlier this month, after negotiations with the county, OK'd an agreement with the county, under which the city will handle the project's environmental impact report while the county will prepare the project's economic analysis.

The agreement commits Seaside and the county to work together to secure water to serve the project planned for the former Parker Flats area of Fort Ord.

Under the reimbursement agreement, the developer must deposit $100,000 in a fund for the environmental analysis and the fund balance must remain at $100,000 as work is done.

The city will bill Monterey Downs each month for consultant costs, legal fees and other expenses for the environmental study, and cease work if the developer fails to pay within 30 days.

A council report says the developer has already deposited a $100,000 check with the city to create the reimbursement fund. That's in addition to $100,000 required to be put up front to cover costs of negotiating a final development deal.

New lighting

The council also will consider approving an agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to retrofit 195 city-owned streetlights with more energy efficient light-emitting diode fixtures.

The estimated $104,347 cost will come from a $185,000 allocation the city received from the state Energy Commission. Some city-owned lights — decorative lights on General Jim Moore Boulevard and in Seaside Highlands — won't get new fixtures because of the higher cost of retrofitting them, a council report says.

Other Seaside streetlights are owned by PG&E and will be retrofitted by the utility, the report says.